Plasma health determination in semiconductor substrate processing reactors

ABSTRACT

Methods of monitoring a plasma while processing a semiconductor substrate are described. In embodiments, the methods include determining the difference in power between the power delivered from the plasma power supply and the power received by the plasma in a substrate processing chamber. The power received may be determined using a V/I sensor positioned after the matching circuit. The power reflected or the power lost is the difference between the delivered power and the received power. The process may be terminated by removing the delivered power if the reflected power is above a setpoint. The V RF  may further be fourier transformed into frequency space and compared to the stored fourier transform of a healthy plasma process. Missing frequencies from the V RF  fourier transform may independently or further indicate an out-of-tune plasma process and the process may be terminated.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present technology relates to semiconductor systems, processes, and equipment.

More specifically, the present technology relates to terminating out-of-tune plasma processes early.

BACKGROUND

Integrated circuits are made possible by processes which produce intricately patterned material layers on substrate surfaces. Producing patterned material on a substrate requires controlled methods for removal of exposed material. Chemical etching is used for a variety of purposes including transferring a pattern in photoresist into underlying layers, thinning layers, or thinning lateral dimensions of features already present on the surface. Often it is desirable to have an etch process that etches one material faster than another facilitating, for example, a pattern transfer process. Such an etch process is said to be selective to the first material. As a result of the diversity of materials, circuits, and processes, etch processes have been developed with a selectivity towards a variety of materials.

Etch processes may be referred to as wet or dry based on the phase of the etchants used in the process. Wet processes have difficulty penetrating some constrained trenches and also may sometimes deform patterned features. Dry etches are preferred when suitable chemistries are available and known. Dry etch chemistries incorporating remote plasma excitation and ion filtering have broadened the etch selectivities available to semiconductor manufacturers. The broadening appeal of low intensity plasmas has created a need to determine the health of remote and local plasmas and take corrective action.

SUMMARY

Methods of monitoring a plasma while processing a semiconductor substrate are described. In embodiments, the methods include determining the difference in power between the power delivered from the plasma power supply and the power received by the plasma in a substrate processing chamber. The power received may be determined by a V/I sensor positioned after the matching circuit and calculated by V_(RF)×I_(RF)×cos(Φ_(RF)). The power reflected or the power lost is the difference between the delivered power and the received power. The lost power may be lost as heat in the matching circuit. The process may be terminated by removing the delivered power if the reflected power is greater than, e.g., 20% of the delivered power. The methods may be used to terminate etch processes or deposition processes in embodiments. The methods may be used to terminate processes having a local (direct or bias) plasma or a remote plasma. The V_(RF) may further be fourier transformed into frequency space and compared to the stored fourier transform of a healthy plasma process. Missing frequencies from the V_(RF) fourier transform may independently or further indicate an out-of-tune plasma process and the process may be terminated.

Aspects of disclosed embodiments include methods of forming a plasma. The methods include flowing a precursor into a region. The region is within a substrate processing chamber. The methods further include turning on an RF power from an RF power supply disposed outside the region. The methods further include analyzing the RF power in a V/I probe disposed between the RF power supply and the region. Analyzing the RF power in the V/I probe determines a time-based voltage spectrum, voltage amplitude, a current amplitude and a voltage-current phase difference, The methods further include delivering the RF power to region to excite an RF plasma within the region from the precursor. The methods further include calculating a power delivered to the RF plasma by multiplying the voltage amplitude by the current amplitude and further by a cosine of the voltage-current phase difference. The methods further include calculating a power difference between the RF power and the power delivered to the RF plasma and then calculating a dimensionless ratio of the power difference to the RF power. The methods further include calculating a candidate frequency-based voltage spectrum from the time-based voltage spectrum. The methods further include comparing a frequency-based voltage spectrum difference between the candidate frequency-based voltage spectrum and a known-good frequency-based voltage spectrum to determine whether features present in either frequency-based spectrum are missing from the other frequency-based spectrum. The methods further include terminating the RF power from the RF power supply if the dimensionless ratio is greater than 0.21 or the features present in either spectrum are missing from the other spectrum. Features present in the candidate frequency-based voltage spectrum may be missing from the known-good frequency-based voltage spectrum or features present in the known-good frequency-based voltage spectrum may be missing from the candidate frequency-based voltage spectrum in embodiments.

The precursor may include fluorine. The RF plasma may be between 1 watt and 1,000 watts. A pressure in the region may be between 70 mTorr and 50 Torr. The region may be a substrate processing region housing a substrate. The region may be a remote plasma region separated from a substrate processing region housing a semiconductor substrate and the remote plasma region may be separated from the substrate processing region by a showerhead. The substrate processing region may be plasma-free during excitation of the RF plasma in the remote plasma region. An RF frequency of the RF power may be less than 200 kHz, between 10 MHz and 15 MHz or greater than 1 GHz during excitation of the RF plasma. Terminating the RF power from the RF power supply may include applying no RF power to the region before processing a substrate or before completely processing a substrate with the RF plasma.

Aspects of disclosed embodiments include methods of forming a local plasma. The methods include flowing a precursor into a substrate processing region housing a semiconductor substrate. The substrate processing region is within a substrate processing chamber. The methods include turning on a local RF power from an RF power supply outside the substrate processing chamber. The methods further include analyzing the local RF power in a V/I probe configured between the RF power supply and the substrate pedestal. Analyzing the local RF power in the V/I probe determines a voltage amplitude, a current amplitude and a voltage-current phase difference. The methods further include delivering the local RF power to the substrate processing region to excite a local RF plasma within the substrate processing region from the precursor. The methods further include calculating a power delivered to the local RF plasma by multiplying the voltage amplitude by the current amplitude and further by a cosine of the voltage-current phase difference. The methods further include calculating a power difference between the local RF power and the power delivered to the local RF plasma and then calculating a dimensionless ratio of the power difference to the RF power. The methods further include terminating the local RF power from the RF power supply if the dimensionless ratio is greater than 0.30.

An electron temperature within the substrate processing region may be less than 0.5 eV during excitation of the local RF plasma. The voltage amplitude and the current amplitude may be RMS values.

Aspects of disclosed embodiments include methods of forming a plasma. The methods include flowing a precursor into a substrate processing region. The substrate processing region is within a substrate processing chamber. The methods further include turning on a bias RF power from an RF power supply disposed outside the substrate processing region. The methods further include acquiring a time-based voltage spectrum of the bias RF power. The methods further include delivering the bias RF power to the substrate processing region to excite a bias RF plasma within the substrate processing region from the precursor. The methods further include calculating a candidate frequency-based voltage spectrum from the time-based voltage spectrum. The methods further include comparing a frequency-based voltage spectrum difference between the candidate frequency-based voltage spectrum and a known-good frequency-based voltage spectrum. The methods further include terminating the bias RF power from the RF power supply if features present in either frequency-based spectrum are missing from the other frequency-based spectrum.

The frequency-based voltage spectrum difference may include at least one peak at a frequency which is an integral multiple of a primary frequency of the remote RF power. The remote RF plasma may be capacitively-coupled.

Such technology may provide numerous benefits over conventional systems and techniques. For example, the measurements described herein may be used to determine the health of plasma processes whose reflected power may be between 10% and 90% of the supplied power. Conventional techniques are constrained to reflected powers between 20% and 80% as a result of the reliance of matching capacitor values in the matching circuit. These and other embodiments, along with many of their advantages and features, are described in more detail in conjunction with the below description and attached figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A further understanding of the nature and advantages of the disclosed technology may be realized by reference to the remaining portions of the specification and the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a top plan view of an exemplary processing system according to the present technology.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic cross-sectional view of an exemplary processing chamber according to the present technology.

FIG. 3 shows a schematic of an exemplary plasma power supply matching circuit according to the present technology.

FIG. 4 shows selected operations in a method of forming a plasma in a substrate processing chamber according to the present technology.

FIG. 5 is a chart showing a reflected power spectrum according to embodiments of the present technology.

FIG. 6 shows selected operations in a method of forming a plasma in a substrate processing chamber according to the present technology.

FIG. 7A is a chart showing a voltage spectrum in the time domain according to the present technology.

FIG. 7B is a chart showing a voltage spectrum in the frequency domain according to the present technology.

Several of the figures are included as schematics. It is to be understood that the figures are for illustrative purposes, and are not to be considered of scale unless specifically stated to be of scale. Additionally, as schematics, the figures are provided to aid comprehension and may not include all aspects or information compared to realistic representations, and may include additional or exaggerated material for illustrative purposes.

In the appended figures, similar components and/or features may have the same reference label. Further, various components of the same type may be distinguished by following the reference label by a letter that distinguishes among the similar components. If only the first reference label is used in the specification, the description is applicable to any one of the similar components having the same first reference label irrespective of the letter.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Methods of monitoring a plasma while processing a semiconductor substrate are described. In embodiments, the methods include determining the difference in power between the power delivered from the plasma power supply and the power received by the plasma in a substrate processing chamber. The power received may be determined by a V/I sensor positioned after the matching circuit and calculated by V_(RF)×I_(RF)×cos(Φ_(RF)). The power reflected or the power lost is the difference between the delivered power and the received power. The lost power may be lost as heat in the matching circuit. The process may be terminated by removing the delivered power if the reflected power is greater than, e.g., 20% of the delivered power. The methods may be used to terminate etch processes or deposition processes in embodiments. The methods may be used to terminate processes having a local (direct, bias) plasma or a remote plasma. The V_(RF) may further be fourier transformed into frequency space and compared to the stored fourier transform of a healthy plasma process. Missing frequencies from the V_(RF) fourier transform may independently or further indicate an out-of-tune plasma process and the process may be terminated.

During substrate processing to deposit, etch, or treat a patterned substrate, it may be beneficial to have a plasma in a substrate processing chamber. The plasma may be a bias plasma (a local plasma) local to a substrate processing region in embodiments. The plasma may be a remote plasma in a remote plasma region separated from the substrate processing region by a showerhead according to embodiments. However, applying an RF plasma power from either a bias plasma power supply or a remote plasma power supply does not guarantee the formation of a plasma in the appropriate region. The formation of a healthy plasma depends on the initial conditions in the region as well as transient phenomenon which occur in the region as the RF plasma power is initially applied. Benefits of the methods described herein include terminating substrate processing soon after a problem with the plasma is detected. Benefits include preventing or reducing damage to a patterned substrate or simply saving time which would have been lost on an out-of-tune plasma process. Details of the described methods will be presented following a description of exemplary hardware.

FIG. 1 shows a top plan view of one embodiment of a substrate processing system 1001 of deposition, etching, baking, and curing chambers according to disclosed embodiments. In the figure, a pair of front opening unified pods (FOUPs) 1002 supply substrates of a variety of sizes that are received by robotic arms 1004 and placed into a low pressure holding area 1006 before being placed into one of the substrate processing chambers 1008 a-f, positioned in tandem sections 1009 a-c. A second robotic arm 1010 may be used to transport the substrate wafers from the holding area 1006 to the substrate processing chambers 1008 a-f and back. Each substrate processing chamber 1008 a-f, can be outfitted to perform a number of substrate processing operations including the etch processes described herein in addition to cyclical layer deposition (CLD), atomic layer deposition (ALD), chemical vapor deposition (CVD), physical vapor deposition (PVD), epitaxial silicon growth, etch, pre-clean, degas, orientation, and other substrate processes.

The substrate processing chambers 1008 a-f may include one or more system components for depositing, annealing, curing and/or etching material films on the substrate wafer. In one configuration, two pairs of the processing chamber, e.g., 1008 c-d and 1008 e-f, may be used to deposit dielectric material on the substrate, and the third pair of processing chambers, e.g., 1008 a-b, may be used to etch the deposited dielectric. In another configuration, all three pairs of chambers, e.g., 1008 a-f, may be configured to etch a material on the substrate. Any one or more of the processes described below may be carried out in chamber(s) separated from the fabrication system shown in different embodiments. It will be appreciated that additional configurations of deposition, etching, annealing, and curing chambers for dielectric films are contemplated by system 1001. Many chambers may be utilized in the processing system 1001, and may be included as tandem chambers, which may include two similar chambers sharing precursor, environmental, or control features.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic cross-sectional view of an exemplary substrate processing chamber. The schematic of the substrate processing chamber 2001 serves to introduce the remote and local power supplies but also provide context for alternative configurations and details provided in subsequent descriptions. Later drawings will provide less detail compared to FIG. 2 but only for the sake of brevity. Any combination of features found in FIG. 2 may be present in any or all subsequent embodiments. The substrate processing chamber 2001 has a remote plasma region 2015 and a substrate processing region 2033 inside. The remote plasma region 2015 is partitioned from the substrate processing region 2033 by an ion suppressor 2023 and a showerhead 2025.

A top plate 2017, ion suppressor 2023, showerhead 2025, and a substrate support 2065 (also known as a pedestal), having a substrate 2055 disposed thereon, are shown and may each be included according to all embodiments described herein. The pedestal 2065 may have a heat exchange channel through which a heat exchange fluid flows to control the temperature of the substrate 2055. This configuration may allow the substrate 2055 temperature to be cooled or heated to maintain relatively low temperatures, such as between −20° C. to 200° C. The pedestal 2065 may also be resistively heated to relatively high temperatures, such as between 100° C. and 1100° C., using an embedded heater element.

The etchant precursors flow from the etchant supply system 2010 through the holes in the top plate 2017 into the remote plasma region 2015. The structural features may include the selection of dimensions and cross-sectional geometries of the apertures in the top plate 2017 to deactivate back-streaming plasma in cases where a plasma is generated in remote plasma region 2015. The top plate 2017, or a conductive top portion of the substrate processing chamber 2001, and the showerhead 2025 are shown with an intervening insulating ring 2020, which allows an AC potential to be applied to the top plate 2017 relative to the showerhead 2025 and/or the ion suppressor 2023. The insulating ring 2020 may be positioned between the top plate 2017 and the showerhead 2025 and/or the ion suppressor 2023 enabling a capacitively-coupled plasma (CCP) to be formed in the remote plasma region 2015. The remote plasma region 2015 houses the remote plasma.

The plurality of holes in the ion suppressor 2023 may be configured to control the passage of the activated gas, i.e., the ionic, radical, and/or neutral species, through the ion suppressor 2023. For example, the aspect ratio of the holes, or the hole diameter to length, and/or the geometry of the holes may be selected so that the flow of ionically-charged species in the activated gas passing through the ion suppressor 2023 is reduced. The holes in the ion suppressor 2023 may include a tapered portion that faces the remote plasma region 2015, and a cylindrical portion that faces the showerhead 2025. The cylindrical portion may be shaped and dimensioned to control the flow of ionic species passing to and through the showerhead 2025. An adjustable electrical bias may also be applied to the ion suppressor 2023 as an additional means to control the flow of ionic species through the suppressor. The ion suppressor 2023 may function to reduce or eliminate the amount of ionically charged species traveling from the plasma generation region to the substrate. Uncharged neutral and radical species may still pass through the openings in the ion suppressor to react with the substrate.

Remote plasma power can be of a variety of frequencies or a combination of multiple frequencies. The remote plasma may be provided by remote RF power delivered from the remote plasma power supply 2068 to the top plate 2017 relative to the ion suppressor 2023, relative to the showerhead 2025, or relative to both the ion suppressor 2023 and the showerhead 2025 (as shown). The remote RF power may be between 10 watts and 10,000 watts, between 10 watts and 5,000 watts, preferably between 25 watts and 2000 watts or more preferably between 50 watts and 1500 watts to increase the longevity of chamber components. The remote RF frequency applied in the exemplary processing system to the remote plasma region may be low RF frequencies less than 200 kHz, higher RF frequencies between 10 MHz and 15 MHz, or microwave frequencies greater than 1 GHz in embodiments. The plasma power may be capacitively-coupled (CCP) or inductively-coupled (ICP) into the remote plasma region.

Plasma effluents derived from the etchant precursors in the remote plasma region 2015 may travel through apertures in the ion suppressor 2023, and/or the showerhead 2025 and into the substrate processing region 2033 through through-holes or the first fluid channels 2019 of the showerhead in embodiments. Little or no plasma may be present in substrate processing region 2033 during the remote plasma etch process. The plasma effluents react with the substrate to etch material from the substrate.

The showerhead 2025 may be a dual channel showerhead (DCSH). The dual channel showerhead 2025 may provide for etching processes that allow for separation of etchants outside of the substrate processing region 2033 to provide limited interaction with chamber components and each other prior to being delivered into the substrate processing region 2033. The showerhead 2025 may comprise an upper plate 2014 and a lower plate 2016. The plates may be coupled with one another to define a volume 2018 between the plates. The plate configuration may provide the first fluid channels 2019 through the upper and lower plates, and the second fluid channels 2021 through the lower plate 2016. The formed channels may be configured to provide fluid access from the volume 2018 through the lower plate 2016 via the second fluid channels 2021 alone, and the first fluid channels 2019 may be fluidly isolated from the volume 2018 between the plates and the second fluid channels 2021. The volume 2018 may be fluidly accessible through a side of the showerhead 2025 and used to supply an unexcited precursor in embodiments.

A bias plasma power may be present in the substrate processing region in embodiments. The bias plasma may be used alone or to further excite plasma effluents already excited in the remote plasma. The bias plasma refers to a local plasma located above the substrate and inside the substrate processing region. The term bias plasma is used since the plasma effluents may be ionized and/or accelerated towards the substrate to beneficially accelerate or provide incoming alignment to some etch processes. In embodiments, a bias plasma may be present when no remote plasma is used. The bias plasma may be formed by applying bias plasma power from a bias plasma power supply 2070 to the substrate 2055/pedestal 2065 relative to the ion suppressor 2023, relative to the showerhead 2025, or relative to both the ion suppressor 2023 and the showerhead 2025 (as shown). The bias RF plasma power may be lower than the remote RF power. The bias RF plasma power may be below 20%, below 15%, below 10% or below 5% of the remote RF plasma power. The bias RF plasma power may be between 1 watt and 1,000 watts, between 1 watt and 500 watts, or between 2 watts and 100 watts in embodiments. The bias RF plasma frequency applied in the exemplary processing system to the substrate processing region may be low RF plasma frequencies less than 200 kHz, higher RF plasma frequencies between 10 MHz and 15 MHz, or microwave frequencies greater than 1 GHz in embodiments. The plasma power may be capacitively-coupled (CCP) or inductively-coupled (ICP) into the substrate plasma region.

A waste of electrical energy may be reduced, avoided or minimized, in embodiments, by including a remote plasma power matching circuit 2069 between the remote plasma power supply 2068 and the top plate 2017. A bias plasma power matching circuit 2071 may be electrically disposed between the bias plasma power supply 2070 and the substrate 2055 and/or pedestal 2065, according to embodiments, to reduce, avoid or minimize the power demanded by the bias plasma power supply 2070 to achieve a target power in the substrate processing region 2033.

Substrate processing chamber 2001 may be used to deposit or etch materials or perform operations discussed in relation to the present technology. Substrate processing chamber 2001 may be utilized with a plasma formed in either the remote plasma region 2015 or the substrate processing region 2033. In embodiments, a plasma may be in each of the remote plasma region 2015 and the substrate processing region 2033 contemporaneously in the etching or deposition operations described herein. Substrate processing chamber 2001 is included only as an exemplary chamber that may be utilized in conjunction with the present technology. It is to be understood that operations of the present technology may be performed in substrate processing chamber 2001 or any number of other chambers.

FIG. 3 shows a schematic of an exemplary plasma power supply matching circuit according to the present technology. The exemplary circuit applies to a local (bias) plasma, however, the technologies described herein may be applied to a remote plasma in embodiments. A bias plasma power supply 3018 delivers RF power to a matching circuit 3029. The matching circuit 3029 may include a first variable capacitor 3030, a fixed inductor 3031 and a second variable capacitor 3032. A V/I probe 3040 receives the output from the matching circuit 3029 and may be used to measure voltage spectrum properties, current spectrum properties, as well as any phase difference between the voltage spectrum and current spectrum. The voltage output from the V/I probe 3040 is delivered to the substrate by way of a pedestal in the substrate processing chamber 3050. A computer control system 3045 is configured to output instructions to all the components listed and to receive data from the components in embodiments.

The matching circuit 3029 is used to adjust the impedance of the assembly outside bias plasma power supply 3018 to equal 50Ω, if possible, to “match” the internal output impedance of the bias plasma power supply 3018. Conventionally, the substrate processing may be aborted if the matching circuit 3029 is unable to adjust the impedance to 50Ω or when the variable capacitors end up at values which our outside a normal range. The methods described herein use alternative criterion to determine whether processing should be aborted.

FIG. 4 shows selected operations in a method 4001 of processing a patterned substrate (e.g. etching using a remote and/or local plasma to excite etchants) in the substrate processing chamber 2001 as previously described. The method 4001 may include one or more operations prior to the initiation of the method, including front-end processing, deposition, etching, polishing, cleaning, or any other operations that may be performed prior to the described operations. A processed substrate, which may be a semiconductor wafer of any size, may be placed within the substrate processing chamber for the method 4001. Subsequent operations to those discussed with respect to method 4001 may also be performed in the same chamber or in different chambers as would be readily appreciated by the skilled artisan.

The method 4001 may optionally include placing a patterned substrate into a substrate processing region of a semiconductor processing chamber. The semiconductor substrate may include a plurality of exposed portions of various distinct materials. The method 4001 includes flowing a precursor (e.g. a fluorine-containing precursor) into a substrate processing region of a semiconductor processing chamber at operation 4005. The method 4001 includes turning on the RF power to a bias plasma in the substrate processing region in operation 4010. The remote plasma region and the substrate processing region are both in the same substrate processing chamber but are separated by a porous barrier such as a showerhead. In general, the precursor may be a deposition precursor or an etching precursor. The etching precursor may include a halogen (e.g. fluorine or chlorine).

The voltage and current waveforms are acquired in a V/I probe prior to application to the substrate pedestal in the substrate processing region. The voltage is applied to the substrate pedestal relative to the showerhead or to the showerhead relative to the substrate pedestal. In the case of a remote plasma (not shown), the voltage may be applied to the top plate relative to the showerhead or to the showerhead relative to the top plate. The power applied (P_(CAL)) to the local plasma (or remote plasma in embodiments) is calculated as V_(RMS) multiplied by I_(RMS) multiplied by the cosine of the angular shift in time-domain between the voltage and current waveforms. In operation 4015, P_(CAL) is subtracted from the power delivered (P_(DEL)) by the bias plasma power supply to find the reflected power (P_(REF)). The absolute value of the reflected power is divided by the delivered power to determine the fraction of power reflected. The fraction of power reflected may be multiplied by one hundred to determine the percentage of the power which is reflected and percentages of reflected power are referred to herein.

A decision is made based on the percentage of reflected plasma power in operation 4020. If the percentage of reflected power is below a threshold percentage, the patterned substrate is processed (e.g. etched with fluorine-containing plasma effluents) in operation 4025. The RF plasma power to the substrate processing region is turned off, in operation 4030, after the patterned substrate is processed. However, the RF plasma power is turned off without processing the patterned substrate (or before completely processing the substrate) if the power difference is greater than 30% (0.30 in dimensionless ratio) of the RF plasma power. Generally speaking the threshold percentage may be 21%, may be 24%, may be 27%, may be 30%, may be 33%, may be 36%, or may be 39% according to embodiments.

FIG. 5 is a chart showing reflected power spectra according to embodiments of the present technology. Two reflected power spectra are shown for an in-tune plasma process 5020 and an out-of-tune plasma process 5010. The data for each spectra are shown as percentages calculated as described previously. A line indicating an exemplary threshold percentage 5030 is also shown at 30%. In embodiments, the percentage is calculated at least every 0.1 seconds, at least every 0.2 seconds, at least every 0.3 seconds, at least every 0.5 seconds, or at least every 1 second. If any calculated percentage value in a reflected power is above the threshold percentage (30% in the example) then the plasma process is terminated and the RF power is turned off according to embodiments. The out-of-tune reflected power spectrum 5010 indicates that the process would begin terminating at about 5 seconds into the process as measured on the horizontal axis. The in-tune reflected power spectrum 5020 stays below 30% and would not be terminated.

The processes described herein examine the health of a plasma in a substrate processing chamber indirectly using hardware which has often already been included in a substrate processing system. A benefit of using the processes described herein, therefore, includes a reduction in hardware complexity compared to some alternatives. Some conventional methods for determining the health of a plasma may include equipping a substrate processing chamber with a viewport and an optical emission spectrometer to more directly determine the presence of a healthy plasma. Installing and maintaining optical emission spectrometers would increase the costs of the hardware and maintenance procedures. The benefits of the processes described herein include a reduction in costs for a manufacturer. Reflected power percentages were measured under a variety of circumstances. During a healthy plasma, the steady state (following the transient peak) reflected power measured was about 20%. By comparison, a plasma ignition fault resulted in a steady state reflected power measurement of about 48%. The steady state reflected power was measured to be 66% during a high reflected power fault.

The pressure in the remote plasma region and/or in the substrate processing region may be selected to benefit the deposition or etching process (operation 4025 in the previous example). The pressure within the remote plasma region may be below 50 Torr, below 40 Torr, below 20 Torr, below 10 Torr, below 5 Torr, below 2 Torr, below 1 Torr, below 800 mTorr, below 600 mTorr, or below 500 mTorr according to embodiments. The pressure in the remote plasma region may be maintained above 70 mTorr, above 100 mTorr, above 200 mTorr, above 500 mTorr, above 1 Torr, above 2 Torr, or above 5 Torr in embodiments. For local (bias) plasmas, the pressure within the substrate processing region may be below 50 Torr, below 40 Torr, below 20 Torr, below 10 Torr, below 5 Torr, below 2 Torr, below 1 Torr, below 800 mTorr, below 600 mTorr, or below 500 mTorr according to embodiments. The pressure in the substrate processing region may be maintained above 70 mTorr, above 100 mTorr, above 200 mTorr, above 500 mTorr, above 1 Torr, above 2 Torr, or above 5 Torr in embodiments. Inert additives or diluents (e.g. nitrogen (N₂) or argon (Ar)) may be combined with a deposition or etching precursor according to embodiments. A benefit of the processes described herein includes determining the health of low pressure plasmas which may be more temperamental.

The RF plasma power applied to either the remote plasma region or the substrate processing region may be between 1 watt and 1,000 watts, between 1 watt and 500 watts, or between 2 watts and 100 watts in embodiments. The RF plasma frequency applied to the remote plasma region or the substrate processing region may be low RF plasma frequencies less than 200 kHz, higher RF plasma frequencies between 10 MHz and 15 MHz, or microwave frequencies greater than 1 GHz according to embodiments. The RF plasma power may be capacitively-coupled (CCP) or inductively-coupled (ICP) into either or both the remote plasma region and/or the substrate processing region.

Substrate processing may be performed while the patterned substrate is between 25° C. and 600° C. In embodiments, the substrate temperature may be greater than 25° C., greater than 50° C., greater than 100° C., greater than 150° C., or greater than 200° C. during substrate processing. The substrate temperature may be less than 600° C., less than 550° C., less than 500° C., less than 450° C., less than 400° C., or less than 350° C. during substrate processing according to embodiments.

FIG. 6 shows selected operations in a method 6001 of processing a patterned substrate in a substrate processing chamber. A patterned substrate is placed within a substrate processing region of a semiconductor processing chamber. The method 6001 includes flowing a precursor (e.g. a fluorine-containing precursor) into a substrate processing region of a semiconductor processing chamber at operation 6005. The method 6001 includes turning on the RF power to a bias plasma in the substrate processing region in operation 6010. The remote plasma region and the substrate processing region are both in the same substrate processing chamber but are separated by a porous barrier such as a showerhead. In general, the precursor may be as described previously.

The voltage and current waveforms are acquired in a V/I probe (operation 6015) prior to application to the substrate pedestal in the substrate processing region. The voltage is applied to the substrate pedestal relative to the showerhead or to the showerhead relative to the substrate pedestal. In the case of a remote plasma (not shown), the voltage may be applied to the top plate relative to the showerhead or to the showerhead relative to the top plate. FIG. 7A is a chart showing the voltage spectrum in the time domain 7010 as acquired by a computer control system from the V/I probe. The voltage spectrum is fourier transformed (operation 6016) into the frequency domain as shown in FIG. 7B. FIG. 7B shows a primary frequency (the leftmost peak) and higher order peaks at integer multiples of the base frequency. The base frequency may be the lowest frequency repetition evident in FIG. 7A.

The fourier transform of the voltage spectrum 7020 may have missing features or extra features compared to a stored result of a healthy plasma according to embodiments. In FIG. 7A, the dotted line represents a peak which is present for a healthy plasma but missing for a plasma which is out-of-tune. In operation 6020, the stored healthy plasma fourier transform is compared with the measured fourier transform of the voltage spectrum under test. The fourth order peak is determined to be missing from the fourier transform of the voltage spectrum 7020 and the substrate processing is terminated by turning off the RF plasma power in operation 6030 according to embodiments. If there are no differences between the healthy plasma fourier transform and the fourier transform of the voltage spectrum 7020 under test, the substrate processing (operation 6025) proceeds and the RF plasma power is turned off after substrate processing in operation 6030.

All film properties and process parameters given for each example provided herein apply to all other examples as well. The deposition or etching precursor may be flowed into the remote plasma region or the substrate processing region, as appropriate, at a flow rate between 10 sccm and 4000 sccm, between 200 sccm and 3000 sccm, or between 500 sccm and 2000 sccm in embodiments.

When a remote plasma is used but a bias plasm is not, the substrate processing region may be described herein as “plasma-free” during the processes described herein. Any or all of the methods described herein may have a low electron temperature in the substrate processing region during the processes to ensure the beneficial chemical reactions deep within the porous film according to embodiments. The electron temperature may be measured using a Langmuir probe in the substrate processing region. In embodiments, the electron temperature may be less than 0.5 eV, less than 0.45 eV, less than 0.4 eV, or less than 0.35 eV. “Plasma-free” does not necessarily mean the region is devoid of plasma. Ionized species and free electrons created within the plasma region may travel through pores (apertures) in the partition (showerhead) at exceedingly small concentrations. The borders of the plasma in the chamber plasma region are hard to define and may encroach upon the substrate processing region through the apertures in the showerhead. Furthermore, a low intensity plasma may be created in the substrate processing region without eliminating desirable features of the processes described herein. All causes for a plasma having much lower intensity ion density than the chamber plasma region during the creation of the excited plasma effluents do not deviate from the scope of “plasma-free” as used herein.

In the preceding description, for the purposes of explanation, numerous details have been set forth in order to provide an understanding of various embodiments of the present technology. It will be apparent to one skilled in the art, however, that certain embodiments may be practiced without some of these details, or with additional details.

Having disclosed several embodiments, it will be recognized by those of skill in the art that various modifications, alternative constructions, and equivalents may be used without departing from the spirit of the embodiments. Additionally, a number of well-known processes and elements have not been described in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the present technology. Accordingly, the above description should not be taken as limiting the scope of the technology.

Where a range of values is provided, it is understood that each intervening value, to the smallest fraction of the unit of the lower limit, unless the context clearly dictates otherwise, between the upper and lower limits of that range is also specifically disclosed. Any narrower range between any stated values or unstated intervening values in a stated range and any other stated or intervening value in that stated range is encompassed. The upper and lower limits of those smaller ranges may independently be included or excluded in the range, and each range where either, neither, or both limits are included in the smaller ranges is also encompassed within the technology, subject to any specifically excluded limit in the stated range. Where the stated range includes one or both of the limits, ranges excluding either or both of those included limits are also included.

As used herein and in the appended claims, the singular forms “a”, “an”, and “the” include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Thus, for example, reference to “a layer” includes a plurality of such layers, and reference to “the precursor” includes reference to one or more precursors and equivalents thereof known to those skilled in the art, and so forth.

Also, the words “comprise(s)”, “comprising”, “contain(s)”, “containing”, “include(s)”, and “including”, when used in this specification and in the following claims, are intended to specify the presence of stated features, integers, components, or operations, but they do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, components, operations, acts, or groups. 

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method of forming a plasma, the method comprising: flowing a precursor into a region, wherein the region is within a substrate processing chamber; turning on an RF power from an RF power supply disposed outside the region; analyzing the RF power in a V/I probe disposed between the RF power supply and the region, wherein analyzing the RF power in the V/I probe determines a time-based voltage spectrum, voltage amplitude, a current amplitude and a voltage-current phase difference; delivering the RF power to region to excite an RF plasma within the region from the precursor; calculating a power delivered to the RF plasma by multiplying the voltage amplitude by the current amplitude and further by a cosine of the voltage-current phase difference; calculating a power difference between the RF power and the power delivered to the RF plasma and then calculating a dimensionless ratio of the power difference to the RF power; terminating the RF power from the RF power supply if the dimensionless ratio is greater than 0.21.
 2. The method of forming the plasma of claim 1 wherein the precursor comprises fluorine.
 3. The method of forming the plasma of claim 1 wherein the RF plasma is between 1 watt and 1,000 watts.
 4. The method of forming the plasma of claim 1 wherein a pressure in the region is between 70 mTorr and 50 Torr.
 5. The method of forming the plasma of claim 1 wherein the region is a substrate processing region housing a substrate.
 6. The method of forming the plasma of claim 1 wherein the region is a remote plasma region separated from a substrate processing region housing a semiconductor substrate and the remote plasma region is separated from the substrate processing region by a showerhead.
 7. The method of forming the plasma of claim 6 wherein the substrate processing region is plasma-free during excitation of the RF plasma in the remote plasma region.
 8. The method of forming the plasma of claim 6 wherein an electron temperature within the substrate processing region is less than 0.5 eV during excitation of the plasma.
 9. The method of forming the plasma of claim 1 wherein an RF frequency of the RF power is less than 200 kHz, between 10 MHz and 15 MHz or greater than 1 GHz during excitation of the RF plasma.
 10. The method of forming the plasma of claim 1 wherein terminating the RF power from the RF power supply comprises applying no RF power to the region before processing a substrate or before completely processing a substrate with the RF plasma.
 11. A method of forming a local plasma, the method comprising: flowing a precursor into a substrate processing region housing a semiconductor substrate, wherein the substrate processing region is within a substrate processing chamber; turning on a local RF power from an RF power supply disposed outside the substrate processing chamber; analyzing the local RF power in a V/I probe disposed between the RF power supply and the substrate processing region, wherein analyzing the local RF power in the V/I probe determines a voltage amplitude, a current amplitude and a voltage-current phase difference; delivering the local RF power to the substrate processing region to excite a local RF plasma within the substrate processing region from the precursor; calculating a power delivered to the local RF plasma by multiplying the voltage amplitude by the current amplitude and further by a cosine of the voltage-current phase difference; calculating a power difference between the local RF power and the power delivered to the local RF plasma and then calculating a dimensionless ratio of the power difference to the local RF power; terminating the local RF power from the RF power supply if the dimensionless ratio is greater than 0.30.
 12. The method of forming the local plasma of claim 11 wherein the voltage amplitude and the current amplitude are RMS values. 